


sins of the father

by RaineyDay



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [8]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Bard Kravitz (The Adventure Zone), Buried Alive, Canon Temporary Character Death, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Execution, Gen, In a way??, Kravitz Backstory (The Adventure Zone), Temporary Character Death, The Death That Kravitz Canonically Experienced to Become a Reaper, he's dead but he's fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:48:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29345400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaineyDay/pseuds/RaineyDay
Summary: Febuwhump Day 9: Buried AliveKravitz doesn't agree with what his family does. But he certainly doesn't participate.Too bad nobody told these guys that part.
Relationships: Kravitz & The Raven Queen
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138502
Kudos: 20
Collections: febuwhump 2021





	sins of the father

**Author's Note:**

> Lowkey based on various headcanons that feature Kravitz being related to death criminals, but no specifics because I didn't want to.

It was so dark. He couldn't breathe- he had to get out, but he couldn't. He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew that he was trapped.

He couldn't quite remember how he had gotten here. What he could remember was coming in flashes- jeering laughter as they restrained him, a wild scream from someone he couldn't place, sorrowful eyes watching, the fear that underlaid the mockery- and then he was here.

He flung his arms out to the side, trying to find anywhere he could escape through, but he found only solid walls surrounding him on all sides, mere inches away.

They'd buried him. He knew it, almost instinctively, and he was afraid. He remembered now, where they had taken him, the threats they had flung at him and his family. They'd buried him in the little graveyard not far from his house.

He didn't know how to get out. There were ways, he knew, but he couldn't remember a single one of them. Besides which, they were certain to have expected an escape attempt. They had likely made it more difficult with that exact knowledge in mind.

They would have assumed that he would know how to escape. This was, after all, the standard punishment for people like his family.

The only problem was that he wasn't like his family.

His family hadn't been offended by his lack of interest in the path that so many of them had wandered down. He wouldn't be the first of them to seek a different route, and they had still accepted him in their homes and gatherings despite that, for as long as he swore not to speak of their crimes to any.

Because he hadn't been interested, he'd never been taught all of the ancient knowledge that the rest of them had learned. He didn't mind that, really, because he had no use for most of it.

They'd always planned to teach him these parts though. The things that he risked, continuing to associate with his family, and how to protect himself as best he could from those dangers.

But it had never been a true priority. It never seemed to be a real risk. The town knew his family well, and respected them. They'd whispered about their 'proclivities' from time to time, but most townsfolk seemed to accept it as long as they never made it too obvious.

But danger in other lands had brought strangers to their town. Strangers who did not know or accept the customs of his family. Strangers who blamed them for any troubles that followed them in their new town, even the ones that they could have no control over, the ones that were simply to be expected when one moved to a new and different place.

And they had come to kill them. In the middle of the night, seeking to 'cleanse' their town of the 'monsters' that threatened it.

The rest of the townsfolk were either too scared or too uninterested to help. They may accept the presence of necromancers in their home, may even help them in times of duress, but they would not raise a finger to defend them against the attacks of people like these strangers.

They had grabbed him as well, despite the fact that he had never participated in his family's rites and rituals, never even helped them gather the supplies they needed.

His mother had been the one to scream, he realized now. She had told the strangers that he had never done what the rest of them did. That he was an innocent in this mess.

And the townsfolk _had_ backed her up on that. Defended him, if not his family. They had told the strangers what everyone knew. He was no necromancer, just a young bard, barely out of his childhood, who had not wanted to put his family in danger.

The strangers had not listened, and had attacked the few townspeople who tried to intervene on his behalf, threatening to report the rest as necromancer sympathizers if they helped him.

And the townpeople backed down, watching him with regret, letting his pleas for help be their punishment for inaction, instead of the inspiration that he had hoped.

Eventually, the strangers bound his mouth, as they realized that he was a bard and might compel his own escape. It hadn't seemed to be working, so Kravitz wasn't exactly sure why they had bothered, but it was just another element of the horror show that he had found himself in.

Knowing he was a bard hadn't seemed to sway the strangers to believe the truth any more than they already had. Or, at least, it hadn't changed their actions. As far as they were concerned, either he was guilty and therefore deserving of punishment, or he could be a sacrifice, to show their 'good and righteous crusade' to the gods.

And now, he was here, buried underground, in a graveyard he had never even thought to defile, being executed for a crime he hadn't committed.

He didn't know where the rest of his family was. Most likely, beside him, equally unable to reach him, or making their own way out, where the strangers were surely waiting for them to make an escape attempt.

Even if he could get out- they would simply kill him.

He and all of his family members would be dead by the time the sun rose.

He felt his breath increase pace, and tried to slow it down. Panicking would do him no good. It would waste his air and kill him faster.

He kicked at the walls of the coffin around him, hoping to find a weak point. His first priority was just to get out of the box he was trapped in before it became his final resting place.

The wood seemed solid, well constructed, but he kept trying, feeling it grow weaker against his assault. He tried to think ahead, figure out what would happen after this.

The dirt would be next, and he needed to make sure that it didn't suffocate him. He would have to make a tunnel of sorts, ensuring that the soil didn't spill into his mouth when the coffin walls loosened and gave it somewhere to fall.

The exertion of kicking was taking a toll on his breath as well, but more air would do him no good if he didn't get out.

His mind spun through all the spells he knew, trying to find one that might help, but he could already tell that he wouldn't be able to cast any from within the coffin walls. They were warded against that sort of thing. These strangers had been well prepared for their task.

That was the last thought he could remember having, until he was opening his eyes to see a large, dark room around him, a mass of feathers of limbs at the far end of it.

As the mass moved, he began to recognize that this was the Raven Queen.

He was dead.

Well. That was that, then.

He was rather unsure of why the Queen had brought his soul to herself though. He had assumed that he would be beneath her notice, the rest of his family greater insults to her laws than his measly silence was.

As she neared him, his head spun slightly as he tried to take her in. It was impossible, and shortly he bowed his head, figuring that it was useless to watch and more respectful to bow.

From the glimpses that he had, and the feeling of the room around her, he got the impression that she was angry.

"Your name is Kravitz, correct?" she greeted, voice echoing around them.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Kravitz answered, keeping his head bowed despite the strong urge to look at her again.

"Are you aware of the situation that has led you to be present in my throne room?" she asked, and she sounded genuinely curious. Not friendly, by any means, but not hostile either.

So he was in the throne room. That seemed logical, he supposed. Where else would a Queen be?

"No," he murmured, voice soft.

"You do not recall your death?" the Raven Queen asked, and this time he couldn't keep his head from lifting to look at her.

The mass that was her being seemed to have changed, and he got the impression of a head tilted curiously to one side, a sharp peek reaching out to poke at the oddity in front of it.

It was strange, but some part of him identified the sight not as terrifying, but as wondrous.

"I remember my death, your Majesty. But I do not understand why I have been brought here. Or why I am alone. My family-"

The Raven Queen hissed, and the room grew colder, and Kravitz shut his mouth before he could make another mistake.

"Your family" -the word was dripping with disdain- "are en route to the Eternal Stockade."

"I see," he whispered. He'd known, on some level, that his family was destined for punishment, but it still hurt to hear about it.

"But you have committed no crimes against me, young one," the Raven Queen said, her voice softening the slightest bit. "The only crime you have been party to is not admitting what you knew of their activities, but that is a mortal law, not one of mine."

"Thank you," Kravitz said, because it seemed to be the thing to say when a goddess revealed that she had no grudge against you.

The Raven Queen chuckled.

"I haven't done anything to be thanked for yet," she said.

Kravitz let his head bow again after. He didn't quite know what else to say here.

"You were sacrificed in my name, by men who did not truly wish to respect me. The actions they committed to you and yours were done of vengeance and fear, not an abidance of my judgements. They wanted to save themselves, not please me. And though I am glad for the restoration of justice by the punishment of your relatives, they also murdered an innocent in their selfishness."

Kravitz nodded along to that, even if the reminder of his family's punishment hurt. It all seemed rather accurate to what he knew of the situation. He was still uncertain why she was explaining it though.

"Your loyalty to your fellow victims by these men was familial. You otherwise feel no alliance with necromancers. You feel that if your family were not what they were, you would be disgusted by all of these types of criminals. You cared for your family, but you did not agree with them."

Continuing to state things that he already knew.

The Raven Queen laughed. It was terrifying, but also, somehow, beautiful as well.

"Then I shall cut to the chase, hmm?"

Oh. Kravitz felt a blush rise in his cheeks. He hadn't realized that she could understand his thoughts here. He supposed it did make sense though. This was her domain, and he was dead. Of course she could read his mind if she chose.

"I cannot and would not undo what has been done to you. But I do not condone the murder of innocent in my name either. And so, I offer you the chance to continue your existence in a different way than you have thus far. You do not have to accept. If you choose, you may join the Sea of Souls with the rest of the innocent dead, and you can rest."

Kravitz looked up at her words, tilting his head in curiosity as he wondered what she meant.

"I have need of hunters to enforce my will. Ones who truly know and understand my bidding," the Raven Queen explained. "My Reapers seek out those souls that have evaded my grasp, and return them to me. They protect the innocents that those criminals would have hurt. You hold no loyalty to any such criminals currently residing in the Material Plane, and as such, can be trusted not to let such bonds sway you away from my will. If you like, I will accept you into these ranks. It is not a life. But it is existence and meaning. You could find happiness amongst these duties."

Kravitz knew that he should probably think about it for at least a few minutes. But he already knew what he wanted to answer. He could feel the words rising up in his chest before he even had the chance to think them.

"I accept, my Queen," he said, bowing his head to honor her before raising it again to look toward her. "Thank you."

"Well, now I'll accept your gratitude," the Raven Queen said, and Kravitz felt the impression of smile in the words. "Come, my Kravitz, so we may begin the process."

Kravitz stood, moving to kneel in front of the Raven Queen. He swore he could almost feel his destiny changing as she wove her essence through his soul. He felt complete.


End file.
